Harvey Norman chief executive Katie Page is urging Aussies to seek out and buy Australian-made goods, not just to support local jobs and communities, but because it’s generally better quality.

Ms Page, whose homeware empire co-founded in 1982 in Auburn by partner Gerry Harvey now spans 320 outlets in eight countries, said Australians buying Aussie-made was “the right thing to do”.

“We are not asking people to buy something for the sake of it, it’s still got to stand up to scrutiny and be value for money,” she said.
“I want Australians to understand you’re going to pay a bit more for Australian-made sometimes, but it comes through in the quality. Aussies should support Aussie-made because it’s a quality product, you know where it comes from, it’s employing people and keeps communities happening. It’s the right thing to do because the product is fantastic.”

Her comments come on the back of research by Westpac Economics for the Herald Sun’s Back Australia campaign showing if every household redirected $100 of its existing weekly spend to locally made goods and services, the economy would grow $16 million and 40,000 new jobs would be created.

Ms Page, having just returned from a visit to the chain’s first British outlet in Birmingham, said 62 per cent of Harvey Norman stores in Australia were in what were considered rural or regional areas.

Asked if it was a business decision or because of her upbringing as a country girl and commitment to the regions, she said the business had a realisation in the 1990s when people in the regional Queensland city of Toowoomba were driving to Brisbane’s Harvey Norman.

“In the ’90s we saw a lot of big retailers come out of those regional areas, and how devastating it was,” she said.
“But it was very important to us. We went in Toowoomba – this is the ’90s – and Toowoomba people were having to drive to Brisbane to get the experience of a Harvey Norman store like this. And it was a light-bulb moment where we said, why are consumers having to do this?”

Ms Page said she and Mr Harvey decided in the 1990s the business should support the regions, not just metro centres.

“We are in places as small as Cobar. If your fridge breaks down, think about this — are you going to go online and have a chip from Sydney out to Cobar and it’s a lemon? What do you do then? So here you have a Harvey Norman. We are servicing 96 per cent of Australians by having this commitment and we see it as what you should do as a retailer. Times have changed and it’s one of the best decisions we made.”